Chicken and Waffles

I'm not a big fan of leftovers. I can manage eating a copy of a meal once before I need to really repurpose it or risk it going sideways in the fridge while I avoid it. To minimize this, I seem to try cooking less or inviting guests to reduce the potential amount of leftovers that I need to deal with. This time, however, I felt particularly inspired and wanted to reinvent the leftovers into a dish of its own merit and tastiness.

Enter, chicken and waffles, leftovers extraordinaire from a spectacular roasted chicken and cheese souffle dinner. I have had a few incarnations of fried chicken and waffles in restaurants. Definitely tasty. Definitely a biiiiiiig meal. Barring the fried chicken, why couldn't I make a roasted chicken and waffles dinner? (Or, for those of you facing pounds of leftover turkey, make roasted turkey and waffles??) Cheesy, herbacious waffles... warm fragrant chicken... smothered in gravy... dabbed with maple syrup. What's not to like??

Turkey Pot Pie

I'm not quite at the point yet where I despise my turkey leftovers... I hope you're not at that point yet either or this post will seem wholly unwelcome.

I can usually manage to eat one meal of turkey leftovers before I'm done with the traditional fare... the white meat, no matter how moist, continues to dry out. The potatoes go chalky. Buns stale. And the gravy runs out. At this point, I usually toss the remaining turkey into the freezer while I figure out what to do with the three pounds that remain.

Enter: Turkey Pot Pie. I figured that this was an easy-creamy-dreamy way to get rid of the last bit of turkey. I could freeze the pies for a time when my turkey-love returns. And I could cram these pies chock full of veg and feel virtuous about eating these leftovers... further justifying my breakfast of chocolate.

Tortilla Soup

This is the last of the trio of soups aimed at making even the most enjoyable of leftovers more palatable in repetitious consumption. Forget boring, tired leftovers that you end up resenting as much as a relationship gone bad. These soups helped me to consume every last morsel of the one dinner... not to mention leaving me with an entirely virtuous feeling in not having thrown any bit of food away.

The tortilla soup was not my idea but rather that of one of my mini-tour-mates, Sheena, who requested a more brothy soup versus the tortilla soups of the North that seem to be pureed within an inch of their lives. The tortilla soup was the challenge... so I hit the books. I read a great number of recipes and decided on what I liked and didn't like about each of them. Then, I surveyed Sheena for her "key components."

Last thing, before I get down to business, I think that there is something fundamentally enjoyable about food that comes with all sorts of opportunities to personalize it. This soup is no exception. You can tweak it throughout the cooking process... but you can also tweak it when you go to eat. Any number of different additions - lime wedges, sour cream, guacamole, avocado chunks, cilantro... and so on - could adorn or not adorn that particular portion of soup. It almost seems to make each bowl a new experience... an adventure of sorts. And one with immediate belly-filling satisfaction.

Roasted Carrot, Carmelized Onion and Ginger Soup

Generally speaking, I can made it through one, maybe two, meals of leftovers before I am ready to pull my hair out. This soup, and the two that will follow, have made this one meal stretch through more than a week and have definitely eliminated that guilty task of ridding the refrigerator of the ghosts of dinners past.

This one is for Val, who has yet to test out one of these recipes on her own but pledges that she "could do this one." Fingers crossed. ;)

Recado Taco

I am going through withdrawal from the awesome tacos that I ate every single day that I was in Mexico. We frequented two places for the majority of our taco-quests - Javvo, just next to the Bahia Condos, and Gardenias, a few blocks away.

Javvo definitely had sophisticated spice blends/marinades and only had one or two taco options a day. Their chicharron was fantastic.

Gardenias was a favourite though. Much more option in terms of tacos - fish, shrimp, chicken, pork, chicharron, beef, etc. But my favourite part had to be the array of condiments that they served with the tacos. Using those serving units that we see at steak joints with the sour cream, chives and bacon bits destined for slathering on your mashed potato, they filled two units with pickled onion (likely softened in lime juice), charred chili peppers (whole), key limes, shredded lettuce, salsa (the pico de gallo variety), a more pureed salsa/chili blend, and an indescribable seemingly whipped avocado sauce that I loved on the fish taco. There were a few others but these were the highlights.

Obviously I've been thinking about these tacos... :) So, with the bastardized recado, I decided to make tacos. No recipe here... but it was a great second day dish. I warmed the meat in the sauce and topped with avocado slices, sour cream and hot sauce... with some beans and mixed veg, I was happy.

A year and a half later... Christmas Leftover Soup

So, it has been more than a while since I ventured on here. I basically started up the blog, then disappeared into my bubble. Well... to emerge, I hope. And what better time is there to emerge from one's bubble than after the hoopla of the holidays, when resolutions are being formulated and time seems to be abundant.

I was very fortunate over the holiday to join the ranks of many a Parisian woman, and able cook, with the addition of a Le Creuset cast iron casserole to my kitchen. I think I have been coveting this pot for more than twenty years. Covet, no more. It is now mine in all of its warmly orange tinged, red splendour.

I have been pouring over cookbooks and looking into the pantry and wandering the grocery in hopes of finding inspiration for the first ever creation to come from this pot. After watching Julie and Julia and flipping through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I thought that boeuf bourguignon would be the most appropriate first dish. Or maybe Coq au Vin. But what about my most favourite Tuscan dish of Pici al Cinghiale (a local Tuscan pasta with a wild boar ragu). There were so many directions that I could have gone...

But, after a guilty look at the contents of my refrigerator, I determined that what I would first make in that pot would be a reflection of the holiday and of family... turned into something new... something quite perfect to end 2009 and begin 2010.

Coq au Vin... day two.

Whether due to wine or exhaustion, my mind was buzzing with the various things that you could do with the Coq au Vin on its second and third and fourth days.
How about...
Slicing a baguette on the diagonal, so you have long slender platforms. Rub each piece with raw garlic. Both sides! Lay the slices on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil (just a touch). And crisp slightly in a 250 - 350 F oven.

Use either as a garnish to a warm bowl of Coq au Vin. Or, use as a crostini and top with some of that meltingly tender chicken, mushroom and 'au jus.'
Or...
Make an open face sandwich. Using some nice bread, top with Coq au Vin (reserving the juices, so your bread doesn't become a sponge), cover with slices of brie or swiss or gouda or whatever cheese makes your mouth water. Set under the broiler or in the toaster oven for a few minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and, hopefully, colouring slightly. What else??